Log in

And the times, they never change enough... - My Flesh is Glass and Steel

The Ramblings and Fanfiction of Meredith Bronwen Mallory

WARNING, CONTENTS INCLUDE:

The difficult child. Writer, lesbian, feminist, hyper Jewish girl in combat boots. Suffers from low grade (but entirely justifiable!) paranoia. Draws, writes, jumps rope, programs html, and sings when no one is listening. Devotee of golden-age sci fi pulps, Lovecraft, Japanese language, war fiction, Asian history, and classic movie actresses. Suspicious of authority, ardent defender of the Constitution, refuses to conform to gender constructs. Dances in stairwells, screams in hallways. Approach with caution. Use within thirty days of opening. Do not remove tag under penalty of law.

My brother and I went to see the midnight premire of Watchmen last night, downtown. Sam dressed up as Rosarch (mask made by yours truly) and I... just wore my vintage ruby red pencil skirt and jacket, with my hair in pin-curls. Well, I wasn't dressing in anything skin tight, that's for damn sure. ^_~ I've been looking forward to the movie since I first saw the preview at the screening of The Dark Knight. I'd read the comic before, in college, and went out and bought my own copy some time in October. Knowing I still had to go to work the next day, I was willing to go on five hours sleep to see the premire.

I... really have mixed feelings about the whole thing, now. ^_^;;;;

We'll actually start with the bad first. Half way through the film, I was really kind of pissy. I was in a better mood when it ended, but... yeah.

The Bad:

The sheer amount of gore. Yes, the comic is a little graphic, but sometimes comics have to be just so you can see what's going on. Draw violence is completely different from how real movie violence can look these days. I don't need to see blood, marrow and gray matter. I don't need to see every moment of the convict's trip into the deep fry machine. The cracking ribs, the entrails, the completely unnessecary sawing of a guy in half to get at the cell bars... Thank you, Frank Miller. I know you had a hand in that.*

On the same gore note, but on a deeper level: it bothered me that they portrayed the alternate assassination of JFK so graphically, as well. Maybe I'm old-fashioned-- or too much of a historian, or both-- but it just seemed disrepectful. It was very depressing.

Having a look at Jon's blue phallus through the whole movie. I'm sorry, no. Boxers, briefs, the speedos he wore during Vietnam?! Something. God, it was just distracting, in a very bad way.

The ridiculous sex scene on Nite Owl's ship. No, no, and no again. Looked akward and stupid (as most sex does to those not actively involved), and Moore just showed their costumes on the floor of the ship. I didn't need to see Laurie with her boots still on.

The fact that a third of the audience laughed through Sally Jupiter's rape scene, and someone yelled out 'bitch deserved it!' when Eddie killed his pregnant Vietnamese "girlfriend". I know these things weren't actually in the movie, but it deeply impacted my ability to enjoy the movie. I was one of maybe seven women in an theater of at least 120 seats, all full. I wasn't seeing the movie, I was seeing red.Incidentally, it's depressing to know that the message received by Eddie's wanton slaughter was 'oh, look at the cool remorseless killer' and not the 'those set up to be heroes may be dangerous, unstable, and terribly unheroic' that Moore intended to convey.

Okay, I'm finished bitching! ^_____^

Good Things: (when when they were good, they were so good)

Amazingly true to the comic, diverging only at the very end, for understandable reasons.

Period appropriate music, all the way through.

Dan (Nite Owl II)'s character. It was just brilliant. Understated, but perfect; heartfelt in ways that showed how amazingly wonderful his simple decency and "ordinary" origins were. His very down-to-earth nature and willingness to believe made him extraordinary.

Silhouette kissing her nurse girlfriend on VJ-Day. I need that screen cap. And seeing them together at the Minutemen meeting was a nice continuity touch, too.

The friendship between Rosarch and Nite Owl II. The idea of them being partners causes endless mayhem in ones brain, but the bar scene was a great example of how the dynamic worked.

Jon's glass clock-work palace on Mars.

For that matter, the look on Jon's face right before the accident. They picked a great actor for that.

Rosarch's line in prison: "I'm not locked up in here with all of you. You are all locked up in here with me."

At any rate, my feelings towards the movie are complicated, but intense. Which is what movies should do. ^_^;;

In other news, a friend of mine bought me a copy of Good Omens as a random please-cheer-up-present. It was just what I needed. I can't tell you how many times I almost dropped the book, I was laughing so hard! It's brilliant. Every single bit of it is brilliant! I am now deeply in love with Crowley. He could take me for a ride in his Bentley, anywhere. And I mean that. -Meredith

*I deeply loathe, despise, and revile Frank Miller as a director, writer and artist. Please see his hand in All-Stars Batman and Robin and then come talk to me. After, you know, you've finished vomiting.[mind you, it's my opinion, and if you love Frank Miller... free country, right? *checks*]

I only very occasionally find myself at your journal through your Torchwood fic.

But.

I read this post and I wanted to share this icon with you; it is by an lj user called adamantflower and I found it on a comm where it was being shared for general consumption. Unfortunately I can't find the comm post again (grr) but I know for certain it was shared to be used with credit to the original creator.

I saw the movie first. I'm reading the collected graphic novel now. I feel so stupid for always passing over it when I looked at it before. I didn't mind the glowing blue penis, not having read the novel; not in a creepy way, just in a "this is when a man should be most vulnerable but he's not, he's transcended all of that" way. But my posse of nerds who went with me to see the film were right on with your criticisms :) I'm vicariously horrified that the people in your cinema reacted like that to the Comedian. Ugh.

Anyway, hope this doesn't come across as too weird. It's not meant to.

I read this post and I wanted to share this icon with you; it is by an lj user called adamantflower and I found it on a comm where it was being shared for general consumption.

I'm so glad you popped in to share this with me! Thank you! I just adore it-- having it on my computer is great, so I don't need to use it as an icon of my own. I'm so hypnotized by it, I'd never get anything gone if it were. I love the way Silhouette cradles her back. ^___^

just in a "this is when a man should be most vulnerable but he's not, he's transcended all of that" waySee, I hadn't thought about it that way. You're right-- in a way, it is proof of just how powerful he is. But from a purely visual and artistic sense, I found it disturbing, mostly because the male organ has always looked vaguely ridiculous to me. *giggles*

There's a powerful lesson to be learned from the Comedian, and it made me sad that so many people missed it.

You don't come across as weird at all. *shakes hands with enthusiasm* Thank you!-Meredith